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Part OnePoetry Selections

September, 30th , 20138-9: 20 AM

Course Title: Introduction to LiteratureCourse Code & NO.: LANE 341Course Credit Hrs.: 3 per weekLevel: 5th Level

Instructor: Dr. Noora Al-MalkiCredits of images and online content are to their original owners.

Session Content

- Unit Learning Outcomes- Poetry: definitions - Poetry vs Prose- Poetic structure- Poetic Forms- Poetic Genres- Reading Selection: - Night Wind by Emily Bronte- Next lecture

Dr. Noora Al-Malki 2013 [email protected] 2

Dr. Noora Al-Malki 2013 [email protected] 3

Unit Objective:

In this lecture, we are going to discuss some concepts related to poetry with reference to some selected readings in English poetry. Learning Outcomes:

Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to:-Discuss the meaning of poetry as a literary genre-Reflect on what distinguishes particular poetic sub-genres.-Analyze selected readings in English poetry.

Definitions of Poetry

Wordsworth defined poetry as:“the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings…”

4Dr. Noora Al-Malki 2013 [email protected]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordsworth


Emily Dickinson said, "If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I know that is poetry".


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson


Dylan Thomas defines it: "Poetry is what makes me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle, what makes me want to do this or that or nothing."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas


Carl Sandburg (American poet 20th C)

“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.”


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sandburg


Isaac Newton (English Scientist 17-18 Cs.):

“(Poetry is) a kind of ingenious nonsense.”


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton


Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. It consists largely of oral or literary works in which language is used in a manner that is felt by its user and audience to differ from ordinary prose. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry



Poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language choices so as to evoke an emotional response. Poetry has been known to employ meter and rhyme, but this is by no means necessary. Poetry is an ancient form that has gone through numerous and drastic reinvention over time. The very nature of poetry as an authentic and individual mode of expression makes it nearly impossible to define.

http://contemporarylit.about.com/



Just check the titles of poetry collections published everywhere and you will notice that every and each poet understands poetry in a certain way that differs from other poets.

Check also these images …


For more on the Poetry Definitions check these websites: http://poetinthecity.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/what-is-poetry-50-definitions-and-counting/

http://www.poetry-online.org/poetry-quotes.htm


Poetry VS. Prose


Overall, prose and poetry differ in the following aspects:1. Poetry is more rhythmical, formal and metered in terms of structure compared to the more ordinary prose.2. Poetry is more expressive and attractive as opposed to the usual dull quality of prose.3. Lines are considered to be the basic units of poetry, whereas sentences fill the exact same role in the case of prose.4. Generally, poetry often has some rhymes and relationships between its words as opposed to their absence in prose.

http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-poetry-and-prose/

Poetic Structure


Abondolo, Daniel (2001). A poetics handbook: verbal art in the European tradition. Curzon. pp. 52–53.

The main structural elements in a poem include: the line, couplet, strophe and stanza.

Poets combine the use of language and a specific structure to create imaginative and expressive works.

Poetic Forms



Poetry as Form:Ancient philosophers tried to decide on what makes poetry distinctive as a form, and what distinguishes good poetry from bad. This led to the emergence of "poetics"—the study of the aesthetics of poetry.

Poetic Forms



Poetic Forms


The Bedford Online Glossary defines closed form, or "fixed form" poetry as follows:[Closed or fixed form poems are those] that may be categorized by the pattern of its lines, meter, rhythm, or stanzas. A sonnet is a fixed form of poetry because by definition it must have fourteen lines. Other fixed forms include limerick, sestina, and villanelle. However, poems written in a fixed form may not always fit into categories precisely, because writers sometimes vary traditional forms to create innovative effects.

Poetic Forms


What distinguishes closed form poems is that they develop regular patterns with regard to lines, meter, rhythm and stanza. When we discuss a poem's structure, we're observing its pattern of lines and stanzas.

Examples of Fixed Verse Forms can be found here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_verse

Poetic Forms


A stanza consists of a grouping of two or more lines, set off by a space, that usually has a set pattern of meter and rhyme. The stanza in poetry is synonymous with the paragraph that is seen in prose, related thoughts are grouped into units.

Kirszner & Mandell. Literature Reading, Writing, Reacting. Ch. 18,pg. 716.

Poetic Forms


In traditional English-language poems, stanzas can be identified and grouped together because they share a rhyme scheme or a fixed number of lines (as in distich/couplet, tercet, quatrain, cinquain/quintain, sestet). In much modern poetry, stanzas may be arbitrarily presented on the printed page because of publishing conventions that employ such features as white space or punctuation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanza

Poetic Forms


The Bedford Online Glossary defines "free verse" poetry as follows:“Sometimes called "free verse," open form poetry does not conform to established patterns of meter, rhyme, and stanza. Such poetry derives its rhythmic qualities from the repetition of words, phrases, or grammatical structures, the arrangement of words on the printed page, or by some other means. The poet E. E. Cummings wrote open form poetry; his poems do not have measurable meters, but they do have rhythm.”

Poetic Forms


What distinguishes open form poems “free Verse” is that they do not develop regular patterns with regard to lines, meter, rhythm and stanza. Their structure is more "organic" instead of being predetermined, following its own inner logic according to the emotion or thought expressed.

Poetic Genres


Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation to words, or to evoke emotive responses (mode). The result is distinct genres or sub-genres of poetry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry

Poetic Genres


Aristotle's Poetics describes three genres of poetry—the epic, the comic, and the tragic—and develop rules to distinguish the highest-quality poetry in each genre, based on the underlying purposes of the genre.

Heath, Malcolm, ed. (1997). Aristotle's Poetics. Penguin Books

Poetic Genres


Mainly, there are three major types of poetry: 1-Dramatic poetry2-Lyric poetry3-Narrative poetry

However, each of these major types includes various poetic forms.


Poetic Genres


Dramatic poetry uses the elements of drama. One or more characters speak to other characters, to themselves, or directly address the reader. This type of poetry often includes emotional conflict.


Poetic Genres


Lyric poetry expresses the thoughts and emotions of a single speaker. Usually short, a lyric poem creates a single, unified impression.


Lyric poetry, on the other hand, may tell about events, but the focus is on creating a mood or recalling a feeling. Lyric poems express the character, impressions and emotions of the poet, and are usually short.

Poetic Genres


Narrative poetry tells a story in verse form. A narrative poem has a beginning, a middle, and an ending, just like a prose story. Unlike prose, however, a narrative poem is much

more concentrated.Heath, Malcolm, ed. (1997). Aristotle's Poetics. Penguin Books

Narrative poetry tells a story. It combines poetic techniques, such as rhyme and alliteration, with the elements of fiction, such as characters and a recognizable plot..

The Night Wind


In summer's mellow midnight,A cloudless moon shone throughOur open parlour window,And rose-trees wet with dew.

I sat in silent musing;The soft wind waved my hair;It told me heaven was glorious,And sleeping earth was fair.

I needed not its breathingTo bring such thoughts to me;But still it whispered lowly,How dark the woods will be!.

Emily Bronte Early 19th C.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Bront%C3%AB

The Night Wind


"The thick leaves in my murmurAre rustling like a dream,And all their myriad voicesInstinct with spirit seem."

I said, "Go, gentle singer,Thy wooing voice is kind:But do not think its musicHas power to reach my mind.

"Play with the scented flower,The young tree's supple bough,And leave my human feelingsIn their own course to flow."

The Night Wind


The wanderer would not heed me;Its kiss grew warmer still."O come!" it sighed so sweetly;"I'll win thee 'gainst thy will.

"Were we not friends from childhood?Have I not loved thee long?As long as thou, the solemn night,Whose silence wakes my song.

"And when thy heart is restingBeneath the church-aisle stone,I shall have time for mourning,And THOU for being alone."

The Night Wind: Points


This poem is rich in allusion to the semi-supernatural, or perhaps more accurately natural, world evoked in much of her work.

Emily Bronte frequently used the 'life-giving wind' as a metaphor for the being she communed with on a daily basis, the 'soul' of nature.

In this poem, as in many others, Emily Bronte is visited by a spiritual manifestation of nature. After setting the scene briefly and efficiently: an open window, midnight, a cloudless moon (another recurring image in her poetry, cf. 'How Clear she Shines'), we are introduced directly to the quasi-mystical concept of the night wind entering through the open window and addressing her in human terms. This is remarkable. We are invited to share this moment with the writer, not in the sense that 'a very strange thing happened..', but that it is perfectly natural, right and ordinary for the night wind to interact and communicate in this way.

It is impossible not to see parallels between the persuasive language of the night wind and the allegorical serpent of Genesis, "O come', it sighed so sweetly/I'll win thee 'gainst thy will...", as the zephyr spirit attempts to persuade the writer to go out into the night with him. As her denial becomes stronger, the wind's language becomes more persuasive, more beguiling. "Have we not been from childhood friends/Have I not loved thee long.". There is a darkness here, which attracts us, yet scares us

The Night Wind: Explication


For a concise explication of the poem, check this website

http://courses.wcupa.edu/fletcher/britlitweb/lweavera.htm

http://courses.wcupa.edu/fletcher/britlitweb/lweavera.htm

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